Rate The Watchmen movie

[Fallen Seraph]

I would give it a 9. Quite faithfully adapted and visually fitting extremely well. I found that the ending actually flowed better with the overall plotline then the graphic novel version, which always felt sorta just, "and here is a squid!" You could see more of a lead up in the movie.

As for inappropriateness, can't say saw much of that in our showing. We had laughter at some of the violent scenes (especially the deep fryer) but it was less a "haha funny", more a "holy crap!" laugh.

But yeah definitely earned its R rating.

 

[Mark]

Good movie. Packed with ideas and action.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

Just got back from seeing it. I was beginning to be unsure of what to expect from it. I avoided the escalating publicity campaign for it because I wanted to be better able to judge it on its own terms - which was already difficult enough because I know the original material so well. Then I started getting mixed signals about how good/bad it was and couldn't tell if it was adverse fanboy reaction or inappreciative criticism. The movie is generally good, but unfortunately I gotta say that it could have been better. Not "should", just "could".

I agree that the altered ending is superior to the original because of the requirements of a movie. All the little clues and subplots setting up the original ending would have added a lot of time and been FAR harder to adequately explain to an audience.

I think it must have been a tough decision to remain as faithful as they did to the original material because it seriously affected the pacing. Now I don't mind slow-paced movies. Heck, this one practically wins points for being a "superhero" movie that DOESN'T come off as being hopped up on crack and amphetamines. But it nonetheless plays unnecessarily slow in places. It's a tough adaptation to perform, but I can't help but feel they'd have made a more widely accessible movie if the editing had moved the STORY along a little quicker and used less montage and more flashback, or perhaps even [sacrilege!] reorganized exposition scenes in a more chronological order. Given the depth and complexity of the material they did VERY well. You just have to accept that the movie is NOT an ACTION film going into it - and that's difficult for someone not familiar with the original material to grasp.

The music choices were great, but the volume was obnoxious, hamfisted, and generally BADLY handled. It drew attention to itself, which means it committed the crime of drawing attention away from the film to focus just on the music.

Good performances from Jackie Earl Haley (Rorshach), Billy Crudup (Dr. Manhattan), and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Comedian). Malin Akerman (Silk Spectre) for some reason doesn't quite come across with as strong a performance (but damn! is she hot - so all is forgiven), and Matthew Goode (Ozymandias) wasn't written/played as the wunderkind with the thinly veiled ego as I thought he should have been and I think it was a mistake not to cast someone who had a more developed physique that he had in the original - the wannabe god to Manhattan's genuine deific abilities. As it was it felt too underplayed.

I also agree about the casting and performances of real-world characters like Nixon, Kissinger, etc. Bad makeup, vocally off, and actually played too seriously. I think if they'd have gone for more caricature it would have worked better since these were very much background parts in the original material. They needed caricature in order to be more familiar.

Still quite enjoyable though. I gave it a 7/10, but then I try to score low to counter the proven tendency to actually score movies high right after you've seen them.

 

[Farganger]

I thought it was great fun, but more interestingly my sister enjoyed it, as did most of her colleagues at a big LA premiere last Wednesday. Largely 40-something entertainment lawyers, none were comics readers, genre fans or really fit the "profile".

Very anecdotal evidence, of course, but I think it gives the lie to all the reviews claiming no one with a brain over age 25 could possibly enjoy the movie. There have been a lot of these, but the New Yorker's was the first I read and now sticks in my craw:

"The result is perfectly calibrated for its target group: nobody over twenty-five could take any joy from the savagery that is fleshed out onscreen, just as nobody under eighteen should be allowed to witness it."

Lane's review hits all the "high brow critic" top notes, including expressing sympathy/sorrow for the poor actors burdened with the roles and script. Genre-bashing has tapered off a bit in the last few years, but remains the easiest way of establishing cred as a "serious" critic.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Saw it tonight at an IMAX cinema with my brother. I've read Watchmen, he hasn't. We both loved it (I gave it a 9). I think the ending works better than the comic ending. Loved the acting, especially Rorshach, Night Owl and Dr Manhattan.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I thought it was great fun, but more interestingly my sister enjoyed it, as did most of her colleagues at a big LA premiere last Wednesday. Largely 40-something entertainment lawyers, none were comics readers, genre fans or really fit the "profile".

Very anecdotal evidence, of course, but I think it gives the lie to all the reviews claiming no one with a brain over age 25 could possibly enjoy the movie. There have been a lot of these, but the New Yorker's was the first I read and now sticks in my craw:

"The result is perfectly calibrated for its target group: nobody over twenty-five could take any joy from the savagery that is fleshed out onscreen, just as nobody under eighteen should be allowed to witness it."

Lane's review hits all the "high brow critic" top notes, including expressing sympathy/sorrow for the poor actors burdened with the roles and script. Genre-bashing has tapered off a bit in the last few years, but remains the easiest way of establishing cred as a "serious" critic.

Who critiques the critics?

 

[Wombat]

Well, it is no where near as good as the the graphic novel (it would be difficult to have that happen), but it was decent enough for the main plot.

The violence got overly graphic -- if it were any more graphic, I would have left the theatre. I was right on the bubble during the fight in the alley.

Watchmen is a complex story about perceptions of truth and reality, about what individuals are willing to take stands for, and hiding truths behind comfortable views. The movie doesn't do a bad job of getting that on the screen, but it doesn't do as well as it could. Still, I don't think most movie audiences would be pulled in for all of that, especially in a "comic book film".

Like I said, not a bad film by any means, but it is not fully Watchmen. I would give it between 6 and 7

 

[Plane Sailing]

Interestingly I find I'm still thinking about the film three days after seeing it - that is pretty unusual for me, and in the cold light of dawn I'm happy with my '9' rating I gave it.

(Sometimes I enjoy the initial thrill, but on retrospect a film was a bit empty. Didn't happen that way with watchmen for me).

 

[Plane Sailing]

Interestingly I find I'm still thinking about the film three days after seeing it - that is pretty unusual for me, and in the cold light of dawn I'm happy with my '9' rating I gave it.

(Sometimes I enjoy the initial thrill, but on retrospect a film was a bit empty. Didn't happen that way with watchmen for me).

 

[Baron Opal]

Holy crap, that was intense.

I just got back from seeing it. There was an amazing intensity about that movie. The violence was intense, the music was intense and the sex was intense. (Malin Akerman pushed my buttons, lemmie tell ya)

I enjoyed the movie, but oddly I'm in sensory overload right now. I like the alternate ending better. It almost looks like Adrian's "Plan C" to remove a certain problem.

It has been a long time since I read the comic. It seemed unusually faithful to to source material; good job there. Jackie Earl Haley (Rorshach) and Billy Crudup (Dr. Manhattan) were great. I enjoyed their performances greatly. On the whole I agree with Wombat and the Man in the Funny Hat.

I give it a 7.